Every holiday season since 2010, Google has turned our questions into a time for reflection, owning the year-end moment more than any other brand with Year in Search. In 2020, Google Trends data showed people asked “why” more than ever before. Our campaign examined humanity’s inquisitive nature via trending queries that spiked over the course of the year.

In an extraordinary year unlike any other, we needed an approach unlike any other. We needed to share 2020’s universal high points and low points with the broadest possible audience, delivered by the most trusted voices in culture.

Year in Search 2020 let users—whether the directors of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert or our friends, neighbors and families - explore Google Trends’ unsurpassed data on what the world was searching for in an extraordinarily unprecedented year.

This year, we asked “How to change the world” twice as much as “How to go back to normal“, and “How to be anti-racist” was searched more than “How to become a millionaire.”

Year in Search 2020 lets users—whether they’re the writers of A Late Show With Stephen Colbert or our friends, neighbors and families—explore Google Trends’ unsurpassed data on what the world was searching for in an extraordinarily unsure year.

Google Trends uses aggregated, categorized, anonymized search data on what people search for online. Year in Search sees what Google Trends data reveals about the questions we shared, the people who inspired us, and the moments that captured the world’s attention each year.

Year in Search’s finished product was unveiled throughout December 2020, with the bulk of the campaign deployed between December 14 and December 31. The campaign’s flagship was our 3-minute YouTube video, which was one of YouTube’s most viewed videos for the month of December. This was accompanied by our AR Snapchat filter and the late night partnerships with creative, production and talent at The Daily Show With Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel Live and Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

We were able to successfully execute on our goal of reaching the maximum possible venues to share our collective search for “Why” with as much of the United States market as possible. This was the first time we had ever unveiled a campaign integrated with the content of the television talk show itself across three separate television programs with strong and distinct augmented reality, internet video and social media components.

This was the most watched Year In Search to date—fitting for an exceptional year. Over 240 million YouTube views of video as of April 2021.

The late night integrations alone delivered 20.5 million total content views across YouTube and social, with average watch times well above benchmarks, The Daily Show at 5:38 minutes and Jimmy Kimmel Live at 3:07 minutes. Search interest also increased when the late night content aired live anywhere from 2.8x to 4.6x lift.

On YouTube, 202 million primary views total with 1.4% net impact for affinities and in-market and 2.08% for multicultural.

Snapchat had 16 million primary views and exceeded Valid and Viewable benchmarks for each respective unit.